Electric-lamp controller and rheostat.



No. 669,823. Patented Marv l2, I90I. A. H. DREIJER.

ELECTRIC LAMP CONTROLLER AND RHEUSTAT.

(Application filed. Apr. 23, 1900.) (No Model.)

Ill L 2 I UNITED STaTns PATENT FFICE.

ELECTRIC-LAM P CONT? LER AND RHEOSTAT.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 669,823, dated March. 12, 1901.

Application filed April 23, 1900, Serial No 13,882. (No modch.

T0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDREW H. DREIJER, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Electric-Lamp Controllers and Rheostats, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention has reference to improvements in electrical current-controllers. particularly such as are adapted for use in connection with incandescent electric lamps or rheostats.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and eflicient device by means of which the power employed to incandesce a filament may be caused to increase or diminish, and consequently the intensity of the illumination by means of the incandescent filament be correspondingly increased or diminished accordingly as the user of the lamp or the operator of the rheostat may desire; and the invention consequently consists, essentially, in the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, substantially as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the annexed drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of an electric lamp provided with my improved ourrent-controller located in the position in which it appears in actual use. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the controlling device with the upper portion of the casing removed. Fig. 3 is a central vertical sectional view. at is a vertical section on the line 4c 00 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view. Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a rheostat embodying my present improvements. Fig. 7 is a vertical central section of Fig. 6.

Like letters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the ditferent ligures of the drawings.

The operative parts of my improved ourrent-controller are inclosed within a suitable casing A, (see Fig. 1,) consisting, preferably, of two parts a and b, which are commonly made of brass or any other suitable material. The part b is made of a diameter slightly greater than that of the part a. Part I) is adapted to fit over the upper end of part a and be secured thereto by means of screws g or other suitable device. The casing A is furnished with an opening at the top through which pass the wires for conducting the electric current, said wires being attached to the two binding posts or poles B and C of the controlling device.

The controller has a body portion D,which is fashioned of porcelain or other non-conducting material of the same cl'iaracier, if desired, as is now in use in the ordinaryincandescent electric lamp. The body D is formed with a cavity or recess E, which is adapted and intended to contain the resistance medinm or material. Although this resistance medium may be of any suitable substance having a low conductivity, yet I preferably employ for the purpose powdered carbon. The recess E is provided with a plate or covering F, which is seated upon a shoulder 0, formed in the side wall of the recess E, and is held in place by means of the screw G,which is introduced through the body D and cover F from the under side of body D and after passing through said body is screwed into the cover F, thus serving two purposes, that of holding the cover rigid and also that of acting as one of the contact-pins. The plate or cover F is provided with a series of vertical contact-pins d d d (1 d, 850. ,which are fixed in the cover F and project downwardly through the same and into the resistance medium within cavity E, (see Figs. 3 and 4,) the heads of said pins lying in a position where they project slightly above the surface of the plate F. These contact-pins provide means through which the electric current may pass from the controlling switch-lever into the resistance medium. L designates this controlling switch or lever. It is connected at its inner end to the pole C.

1 denotes a pole supported in the body D and having attached thereto a flat piece of metal H,which has one end projecting downwardly into the recess or cavity E, so as to serve the purpose of carrying the current from the resistance material to the pole I.

The switch or lever L is held in close contact with the particular pin over which it may at the time be thrown by means of a fiat spring M, riveted at one end to the lever L and with the other end pressed beneath the 1 binding-screws h. The lever L is designed to be vibrated in a horizontal plane and during such vibrations to come in contact successively with the members of the series of contact-pins above named. Thus when the switch L is in contact with one of these pins the current will be found to enter the device through the post or pole C, from which it will travel along the arm of the switch L to the pin directly beneath and in contact with said arm, then down through said pin to the resistance material in cavity E, then through E to the contact-plate H, along through II to the pole I, down through I to the contact K, from contact K to the lamp-filament, and returning it will pass from the lam p-iilament to the contact-finger N, thence to the pole B, along pole B to the outgoing wires, through which it will pass again to the main line. In Fig. 2 the switch Lis shown out of contact with any of the contactpins, it being thrown around to the extreme right. When it is moved into contact with one of the pins-as d, for instancethe circuit will be closed and the current will travel as described; but the resistance afforded to the current in passing through the entire length of the resistance material, as will be the case when the lever is in contact with the pin d, will be so great that the light of the lamp will burn but faintly, the incandescence being small; but as the switch is thrown to the next contact-pin d the current will have to pass through a less amount of resistance material, and consequently the light will burn a little brighter than before. Hence it is obvious that the nearer the switch is thrown to the pole I the less will be the resistance afforded, and as the resistance diminishes the power will necessarily increase, thus causing the light to burn more brightly. Then the switch is thrown around until it comes in contact with the post I, all resistance will have been cut out and the current will be carried directly from the switch-arm L to the post I, and when said switch is thrown in the opposite direction against the stop 6 (see Fig. 2) the circuit will be broken, since the lever L will not be in contact with any of the pins,

and at this time the light will be turned 01%..

My invention may be applied to rheostats as well as to lamps, and in so applying it to a rheostat the construction necessitated will be practically the same as when applied to a lamp, with the exception that I will use a greater number of contact-pins, so as to make it possible for me to obtain greater variations in power, and instead of connecting one of the supply-wires to the switch L direct I conmeet one wire to each of the binding posts or poles, as at B and I. Also pole Bis connected by a fusible plate to the pole C, in order to prevent any overcharge of current from entering the controller proper, because the fuse will immediately be burned out When it is overcharged, and thus the current will be broken.

It will be understood that numerous changes may be made in the exact construction and arrangement of the several parts of my dcvice without departing from my invention. I may use any number of contact-pins, any kind ofa containing-casing for the mechanical parts, any desired type of switch, and I also may make numerous other changes as experience will suggest.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

i. In a lamp-socket, the combination with a main body having a cavity therein, a resistance medium in said cavity, a series of contact-pins entering the resistance material, a contact-plate also entering the resistance medium,posts for the attachment of the wires, a switch adapted to be brought into contact with the contact-pins, and means for holding the switch when operated.

2. In a lamp-socket, the combination of a main body having a cavity therein, a resistance medium in said cavity, a series of contact-pins entering the resistance medium, a contact-plate also entering the resistance medium, a pole connected with said plate and leading to the contact communicating with the lamp, poles or posts with which the wires are connected, and a movable switch adaptel to be vibrated into contact with one or the other of the said contact-pins in order to compel the current to pass through a greater or a less amount of the resistance material.

3. In a lamp-socket, the combination of a recessed body, resistance material therein, a cover for the recess, a series of contact-pins carried by the cover with their lowerends entering the resistance material and their upper ends in an exposed position on the surface of the cover, a contact-plate also entering the resistance medium, a pole connected with said plate and leading to the contact communicating with the lamp, poles or posts with which the wires are connected, and a movable switch for allowing the current to pass from one of the poles through one or the other of the contactinns and through a greater or less amount of the resistance medium to the other pole for the purpose of varying the intensity of the current.

Signed at New York city, New York, this 7th day of April, 1900.

ANDREI/V II. DRIJIJER.

Witnesses:

JAMES R. RoeERs, FRED E. TASKER. 

